Rise of the Defender (47 page)

     Marcus could not stop himself from
reacting. His head snapped to Ralph and the cobalt blue eyes flamed. His first
instinct was to kill them both outright, but he controlled himself so
forcefully that his body began to shake.

     “Who told you such outrageous lies?” he
demanded in a low, hostile growl.

     “Not lies, but fact, I am told,” Ralph said
smugly. “Did you really think you were all alone with her in the common room at
the inn? With twenty-five soldiers milling about, preparing to leave, wouldn't
it make sense that at least one of them would see you?”

     Marcus knew he went pale. His stomach
churned wildly and he fought off the overwhelming urge to react outwardly, when
in fact he knew he could not. His life, mayhap Dustin's life, depended on his
control.

     “I am also told you spent a good deal of
time alone with her in her room,” Ralph went on. “Mayhap there was more than
kissing going on? Should Lady Dustin bear a child some months from now, 'twill
be interesting to see if the child has black hair or blond.”

     Marcus could not breathe with his fury.
“Such vicious lies should not be allowed to go unpunished,” he seethed. “To
make it easy, I will kill every one of the soldiers that accompanied the lady
and I to London. That should eliminate your spy.”

     Ralph smiled. “They are Sir Christopher's
men and you will have to answer to him if you commit such a crime. What would
you tell him was your reasoning?”

     “To kill a liar and nothing more,” Marcus
replied evenly, trying to regain control of his wits. “For that is the only
true reason. You should execute your spy yourself for relaying such falsehoods.
I have had enough of this conversation.”

     He moved for the door and they let him.
John called after him.

     “Think on my offer, Burton,” he said.
“Titles and lands shall be yours. And, if you happen to mortally wound de Lohr
in the tournament, I will also grant you Lady Dustin.”

     Marcus was out the door, slamming it behind
him in his rage. John and Ralph looked at each other and chuckled wickedly.

     “He will be yours, sire,” Ralph said
confidently. “Did you see how he rigidly denied it? Of course it is true. He
will not allow de Lohr to become privy to such damaging knowledge.”

     John was quite pleased. “Are you sure the
soldier is trustworthy?” he asked.

     Ralph nodded. “Not just one, but two men
saw him through the small window as they were guarding the door,” he replied.
“It was worth five gold crowns apiece to learn that he practically raped her
right in the front room.”

     John grew thoughtful, thinking of Burton
and his strong character. “He will not admit it, though. We may have to divulge
the information to select people to start a wildfire of rumors. Mayhap it would
cause a great enough rift between de Lohr and Burton, enough to force the man
to our side. Mayhap we do not have to blackmail him at all; let the rumors do
the damage.”

     Ralph agreed. “If you wish it, I am sure we
could accomplish that very task tonight at supper.”

     John liked the idea. “Make it so.”

     “As you wish, sire,” Ralph replied, an evil
gleam to his eye.

***

     Marcus was out of control with anger. He
plowed into David in the hall, nearly taking the man down as Christopher
reached out a huge hand to ease him.

     “Steady, man, steady.” he admonished,
gripping Marcus' arms. “What in the hell did they say to you?”

     Marcus was so undone he could hardly think.
He looked up into Christopher's blue eyes, the eyes of a man he loved dearly,
and could not speak for a moment. But he had to say something, anything, for he
knew that one way or the other, Christopher was going to hear of his
indiscretions with his wife. He would rather explain now, albeit most likely a
lie, than defend himself later. He wanted to be upfront with Christopher even
if he was not planning to be entirely honest. He could not seem to tell him the
truth, for even though he didn't bed Dustin, in his heart he already had a
hundred times.

     “He is attempting to force me to champion
him,” he rasped after a moment, “any way he can do it.”

     “What does that mean?” Christopher
demanded, studying him closely.

     Marcus prayed that God would forgive him
for what he was about to say. “Apparently there were some spies traveling with
us,” he said softly. “Soldiers who are willing to tell them anything for a
price.

     Christopher's expression never wavered.
“What stories?”

     Marcus took a deep, fortifying breath.
“Somehow, Ralph uncovered a story about Lady Dustin and I in a compromising
position. Ralph intends to use the story to blackmail me into championing
John.” He gazed into Christopher’s eyes as he spoke. “They were told that I
ravaged your wife. They were also told that Lady Dustin and I spent a good deal
of time alone together, in her room, which was true. But nothing ever happened,
my lord, I swear it on all that is holy. I never touched your wife when were
alone in her room.”

     Christopher let go of him, his eyes
unreadable but his body tense. He stared back at Marcus a long, long time and
Marcus was sure he was reading right through him. He fought off the urge to
fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness.

     “That,” Christopher said after a long and
pregnant silence, “is a lie.”

     Marcus’ eyes widening at Christopher. He
saw the man smile faintly and knew it would be the last thing he saw on this
earth before gazing upon God's holy face.

     “My lord?” he choked.

     Christopher lifted an eyebrow. “Dustin told
me you sat on her legs to keep her in bed,” Christopher explained softly. “So
you did touch her. You could have spanked her, too, if she needed it.”

     Marcus closed his eyes, his fury and
anxiety draining out of him and he slumped against the wall. He was positive
every bone in his body had deserted hm. Christopher stood over him, knowing
what a mind-wracking interrogation it must have been with John and Ralph, yet
he had never seen Marcus so weakened. He was the strongest man he knew.

     Marcus grappled with his emotions, turning
his pale face up to his liege. “I thought you were going to run me through,” he
murmured, which was the truth.

     Christopher took his arm, pulling his up
from the wall. “You have no control over rumors and lies, Marcus. People will
believe what they will,” he said. “Yet you had the courage to tell me what was
transpiring, and for that I am grateful. Now we can deal with what comes.”

     Marcus shrugged weakly. “I suppose they
mean to break us down, to split Richard's loyalists from the top.”

Christopher began to
pull the man down the hall with David trailing after them. “Nay, we must stay
together, no matter what,” he replied. Then, he grunted disgust. “Who would
have believed that John and Ralph could have tried to use a woman to drive us
apart? Of all the stupid and ludicrous ideas….”

     He trailed off, shaking his head. But
David, who had managed to walk up beside them, was focused on Marcus.

     “Aye, he told us of the rumors,” he said
evenly, “but he did not deny them.”

     Christopher came to a stop, as did Marcus.
They looked down at David, and Christopher actually glared, but David stood his
ground.

     “Well, he didn't,” he insisted to his
brother. “Mayhap he was trying to save his own ass by telling you first, lying
about it, so that you would not believe the truth when you heard it.”

     Marcus’ jaw ticked as he faced off against
David. He was bigger, and broader, but by no means the better warrior. David
was one of the elite.

      “Do not let your jealously be so apparent,
Lion Cub,” he growled.

     David twitched in Marcus’ direction but
Christopher threw out a massive arm between them.

     “What is going on with us?” he demanded
angrily. “Three years in the sands and never a harsh word, but we return to
England, I take a wife, and suddenly everyone is at each other's throats? David,
you will apologize to Marcus for your blatant insult.”

     “Not until he denies it,” David muttered.

     Christopher looked to Marcus. The man
continued to stare David down, his jaw working furiously.  The cobalt blue eyes
were hot enough to burn.

     “I did not ravage Lady Dustin,” he said
simply.
No, I kissed her softly
. There was definitely a difference
between kissing and ravishing, minor it might be.

     Christopher had heard enough. Leaving David
and Marcus glaring at each other, he had larger problems to worry over than two
of his men quarreling.

     There were several soldiers guarding the
door to his apartments and he brushed past them, opening the door and slamming
it in his wake. Edward and Sir Trent were in his antechamber, but Dustin was
nowhere to be seen.

     “Where's my wife?” he demanded, then eyed
Trent. “In the hall, boy.”

     Trent obeyed quickly, leaving Edward with a
furrowed brow at Christopher's manner.

     “What happened?” Edward asked.

     Christopher glanced at him on his way to
the wine decanter. He poured himself a healthy amount before answering.

     “Christ, what isn't happening?” he snapped.
“Ralph and John tried to blackmail Marcus into championing the prince by
telling him that their spies saw him ravish my wife back at the inn. Marcus did
the correct thing by telling me about it, but that does not mean the rumors
will not run rampant. I can only imagine how Dustin is going to react.”

     Edward sat on a chair, his expression cool.
“What did Marcus say?”

     “The truth - that nothing happened,”
Christopher said staunchly.

     Edward nodded, his eyes growing distant.
Christopher downed his goblet and poured himself another, eyeing his silent
friend.

     “What is with you?” he demanded.

     Edward glanced up at him, then looked away,
shrugging. “Not a thing. Are you going to dress for supper?”

     Christopher set the goblet down, eyeing
Edward. “What were you thinking, Edward? What have you heard?”

     “Heard? Nothing,” he said truthfully, then
looked at his liege a long moment. “But I would be lying if I did not tell you
that I think there may be some truth to the rumor.”

     Christopher ran cold. “What do you think?
Damn, Edward, you were there. What do you think?”

     Edward drew in a long, deep breath. “What I
think? I think that your wife has fallen in love with you, and that Marcus has
fallen in love with your wife.”

     Christopher's gaze didn't waver for several
long moments. Then, he broke away and wandered slowly across the cold wooden
floor. After a pause, shook his head.

     “Damn,” he muttered, then turned to Edward
again. “Are you sure?”

     “As sure as I can be without asking either
one of them.”

     Christopher looked at the man, his
expression torn with shock, before finally emitting a hissing sigh. “Why is
this happening, Edward?” he demanded without force. “Never in my wildest dreams
did I imagine when I married Dustin Barringdon that she might prove to be the
downfall of the mightiest knights since Arthur's Roundtable. Had I had only
known, I would have told Richard to forget everything. No keep is worth his
kingdom, which might be exactly what this boils down to.”

     “What are you babbling about?” Edward
demanded.

     Christopher's passion was in his gestures,
his voice. “Christ, Edward. David thinks himself in love with her, Jeffrey has
told me he is in love with her, now you tell me that Marcus has fallen under
her spell. And every time Leeton looks at her, he thinks of Rachel and becomes
absolutely useless. That leaves me with you, Dud and that young Burton boy who
seem to be unaffected by my wife's charms. How is it possible that this is
happening?”

     Edward shook his head slowly, seeing
Christopher's point. But his liege had failed to mention one very important
point. “What about you, Chris? Have you fallen for the woman you didn't want to
marry?”

     Christopher stopped pacing and looked at
him. “Oh…hell, I do not know,” he whispered, his agitation evident. “All I know
is that I cannot go for a minute without thinking about her. How could I not?
She is beautiful and sweet and full of spirit. I am very fond of her, true, but
I do not love her.”

     Edward gazed back at him, not about to
contradict him. But Edward knew better; Christopher did indeed love his wife,
but he was too damn proud to admit he actually depended on someone other than
himself.

     As they pondered the revelations, the
questions, something came whistling through the air and missed Christopher’s
head by a mere inch. Both knights instinctively ducked as the pewter cup banged
against the wall behind them, and they turned with astonished expressions to
see Dustin's tear-stained face glaring at them from the bedchamber door.